Learning Environment

The Safe Learning Environment Charter supports the development of positive safety cultures and continuous learning across all learning environments in the NHS. It is underpinned by principles of equality, diversity, and inclusion. It has been developed by over 2482 learners, educators, and key stakeholders in health education.

The Charter is designed for learners and those responsible for supporting placement learning across all learning environments and all professions within them. It is aligned to the NHS People Promise in recognition that learners are vital to the workforce and are included in the promises we must all make to each other, to improve everyone’s experience of working in the NHS. The Charter sets out the supportive learning environment required to allow learners to become well-rounded professionals with the right skills and knowledge to provide safe and compassionate care of the highest quality.

This link offers posters that break down all the principles outlines within the charter. 

The NHS England Workforce, Training and Education Directorate (NHSE, WT&E) is responsible for the quality assurance of education and training of healthcare learners in England. You can find out more about the quality management processes across Kent, Surrey, and Sussex (KSS) including the Clinical Learning Environment Approval Process and Clinical Learning Environment Form   here.

Surrey Training Hub are supporting PCN Education Teams to complete the initial Clinical Learning Environment (CLE) process and annual follow-up process. This is to accredit each PCN as a combined learning environment, approved by NHSE to take students and qualified professionals in primary care training (including foundation and speciality training doctors). Some of the benefits include:

• PCN-level one off process to accredit, streamlined paperwork.
• More opportunities with pooled capacity and supervisors across the PCN; shared responsibilities (inductions/timetables/tutorials etc).
• Improve retention of “home grown” staff who can be developed.
• Facilitation of best practice, celebrating what you already do that works.
• Sharing teaching and training opportunities for the workforce whilst diversifying the learner experience.
• Supporting educators across the PCN with structured systems

If you have any questions or queries about Clinical Learning Environments, please contact us.

PCN Educator roles will be funded by the ICB and supported by the Training Hub to deliver the following:

Clinical Learning Environment : work towards approval at PCN level by March 2025 or if approved, engage with the annual review process.

Grow the educators and supervisors across the PCN : encourage, support, and understand where the education and supervisory capacity is across the PCN.

Grow learner placement and capacity : work towards innovative and creative solutions for quality learner placements, with a specific focus of strategic workforce development based on patient population data.

Continuous Professional Development (CPD): establish and lead CPD within the PCN for the multiprofessional workforce.

Work with the Training hub to understand and promote the education opportunities available to staff in the PCN.

Work with the PCN Board with education as a standing item.

For more information, please contact your PCN Clinical Director (if you are unsure of your Clinical Director, please speak to your Practice Manager.)

Delivering sustainable growth in the multi-professional Primary Care workforce is vital to deliver the ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. To achieve this, healthcare professionals must be encouraged to consider general practice as a viable career option through student placement opportunities. Currently, during the pre-registration degree programme for nurses, only 1% of student nurses have placements in general practice, this means there is no real opportunity for students to positively experience general practice. Some of the benefits of hosting a student include:

• Encouraging best evidence-based practice – through questioning, students encourage clinicians to reflect on and improve their practice for patients (bringing two-way learning into practice).
• Supporting practices with research and quality improvement projects.
• Developing your personal clinical education, supervision, and leadership skills to support you to meet NMC revalidation, HCPC renewal and GMC standards.
• Tariff payment for each placement.
• Supporting a grown your own approach whereby your students become your workforce once they graduate.
• Supporting career development and retention of existing staff.

If you would like to know more or you are interested in hosting students, please contact us.

NHS England developed national supervision guidance for primary care network multidisciplinary teams which covers the type of supervision, regulatory requirements and the recommended frequency, access here. 

This guide from Kent, Surrey, and Sussex Primary Care School  provides local guidance on supervision requirements for all pre-reg and registered healthcare professionals who work in primary care. It also clarifies which professionals can supervise which professions.

GP trainees are supervised by Clinical Supervisors (CS) in rotated posts both in primary and secondary care and have Educational Supervisors who oversee their training programme for 3 years. You can find out more about becoming a GP Educational Supervisor here .

A CS is an appropriately trained educator who is responsible for overseeing a specified learner’s clinical work throughout a placement in a clinical environment. We are looking for GPs who intend to host learners and whose practices are happy for them to do so. All eligible general practitioners in Surrey and Sussex are welcome to attend our General Practice CS course which is run in collaboration with NHS England South East Primary Care Department and the Surrey Heartlands Training Hub.

The course is two-days, interactive, and will introduce GPs to the core knowledge and skills needed to work as a CS. The module introduces key concepts relating to ensuring safety for both learners and patients.

Recognising the pressures in general practice, the course will include protected time and built-in support for GMC recognition. We're confident that the enhancements will significantly enrich your learning experience and prepare you to excel in your role as a CS.

More information and dates of the next courses can be found on this page . You can register your interest to become a CS here .

Once accredited as a CS, you can apply for the Educator Pathway course to progress to becoming a ES.  There is no longer a mandatory requirement to achieve a PG Cert to become an ES, but there is still funding and support for the qualification available. 

Both the CS and ES accreditation and reaccreditation have been updated to be less onerous, and more relevant to busy clinicians, with streamlined forms, courses and processes. 

The Surrey Training Hub supports our learners raising quality issues through our Quality Management Forum Meetings. As the Training Hub facilitates placements and learning but is not the lead employer or Higher Education Institute (HEI), we support and co-ordinate feedback and concerns with our practices, PCNs and HEI partners. There is also collaboration with the NHSE KSS GP School.

Concerns about learners should be escalated through HEIs or the NHSE KSS GP School for educators to follow. The Training Hub can advise and assist, and act in an advisory capacity to support these processes.

Both the CS and ES accreditation and reaccreditation have been updated to be less onerous, and more relevant to busy clinicians, with streamlined forms, courses and processes.